The authors will present their books to an international audience of both the general public and professionals at more than 100 literary and cultural events. The centerpiece of the five-day program will be the Czech Republic’s design-focused exhibition in the pavilion dedicated to the fair’s Guest of Honour, covering an area of more than 2,000 m², which will feature two program stages and extensive book exhibitions.
The list of nominees in the categories of prose, poetry, comics, children’s literature, theater, and nonfiction was compiled by the project’s Programming committee, composed of 23 leading experts from the book and literary industries, cultural institutions and management, the translation sector, and the main organizers, based on criteria established at the outset of the project. The main selection criterion was that the author must have a new translation into German published between 2024 and 2026 by a German, Austrian, or Swiss publisher that will actively collaborate on its promotion. Secondary criteria included a new translation of a book into another world language, or, alternatively, whether the author had received a significant literary award in the Czech Republic or abroad between 2024 and 2026.
“The current selection is the result of lengthy and careful discussions within the programming committee. It must be said that this was a very difficult decision. We couldn’t send everyone we wanted to Frankfurt am Main. Although the program space provided by the five days of the fair and two stages may seem extensive, it is still a limited number. We tried to select those who best meet the given criteria. We realize that other authors would also deserve to present their books, but they, for example, do not have a new translation into German. And it is important to emphasize that selection or non-selection for Frankfurt does not imply any evaluation in terms of ‘artistry’ or ‘artistic value,’ or that someone is a better or worse author,” explains Jan M. Heller, literary critic, editor-in-chief of Tvar magazine, and director of the AMU Publishing House in Prague. At the same time, the dramaturgical council sought to maintain diversity and balance in the selection—in terms of poetics, styles, generations, and gender. However, the selected authors may not be the only figures to be featured in Frankfurt. Thanks to the spotlight on Czechia, other Czech authors can be independently presented by foreign publishers, thereby capitalizing on the increased interest in Czech literature.
All authors will come to the Frankfurt Book Fair with a recent German translation of one or more of their books, published by a foreign publishing house in 2024–2026. Their number, thanks also to increased support from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the special “The Path to Us” call of the Czech-German Fund for the Future in connection with preparations for the Guest of Honour presentation, had risen over these three years to 115 as of 14 May 2026.
Authors attending the 2026 Frankfurt Book Fair
Sorted by literary genre and alphabetically
Children’s literature:
Jakub Bachorík, Ivona Březinová, Ondřej Buddeus, Jiří Dvořák, Magda Garguláková, Petr Hanel, Lucie Hášová Truhelková, Vojtěch Matocha, Markéta Pilátová, Eliška Soffer Podzimek, Iva Procházková, Magdalena Rutová, Petra Soukupová, Olga Stehlíková, Andrea Tachezy
Theater:
Tomáš Dianiška, Hana D. Lehečková, Tomáš Ráliš
Comics:
Kateřina Čupová, Kateřina Illnerová, Jindřich Janíček, Štěpánka Jislová, Lucie Lomová, Karel Osoha, Mikuláš Podprocký, Stanislav Setinský, Petra Josefína Stibitzová, Jaromír 99
Nonfiction:
Tomáš Glanc, Tereza Matějčková
Poetry:
Zofia Bałdyga, Petr Borkovec, Klára Goldstein, Petr Hruška, Marie Iljašenko, Sufian Massalema, Pavel Novotný, Lubomír Tichý, Jaromír Typlt, Iryna Zahladko
Prose:
Elsa Aids, Michal Ajvaz, Bianca Bellová, Eli Beneš, Anna Bolavá, Tereza Boučková, Miřenka Čechová, Radka Denemarková, Lucie Faulerová, Anna Beata Háblová, Jiří Hájíček, Kristina Hamplová, Miroslav Hlaučo, Alice Horáčková, Matěj Hořava, Petra Hůlová, Dora Kaprálová, Emma Kausc, Petra Klabouchová, Štěpán Kučera, Vratislav Maňák, Alena Mornštajnová, Jan Novák, Magdaléna Platzová, Jaroslav Rudiš, Zuzana Říhová, Petr Šesták, Marek Toman, Jáchym Topol, Marek Torčík, Kateřina Tučková, Klára Wang Tylová, Klára Vlasáková, Martin Vopěnka, Jonáš Zbořil